


The Price Of A Human Life

by P3nny_Dreadful



Series: The Demons of Hell's Kitchen [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Pre-Spider Bite Peter Parker, Training, no beta we die like men, not entirely canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,055
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24554038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/P3nny_Dreadful/pseuds/P3nny_Dreadful
Summary: Matt learns that there's a new vigilante prowling around in his territory only to realize two things.One, It's a kid.Two, he somehow ended up agreeing to train him, and by some miracle the kid's actually growing on him.
Relationships: Matt Murdock & Peter Parker
Series: The Demons of Hell's Kitchen [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1742146
Comments: 8
Kudos: 171





	The Price Of A Human Life

Matt knew that what he did could be considered wrong by many individuals. Knew that the devil persona he had for his alter ego didn't really help with public opinion. However, he also knew that there had been a little girl crying for help every night when her father would come into her room. He had tried the police, but they couldn't always help. He could though, and hadn't regret it ever since. He could help. He had helped. It was this sort of mentality that drove him to leaping around Hell's Kitchen at ungodly hours of the night. What fueled his burning desire to push through the cuts and broken bones. 

He had first caught wind of another vigilante in his territory when some muggers had left slip that there was some bat wielding kid running around. Of course, when the guy had said kid, he wasn't expecting it to be a literal child. Young, sure. But Matt had thought the guy was seventeen, eighteen, maybe even pushing into the very early twenties. Not an actual baby. Who the fuck allowed a child to run around with a baseball bat in the middle of the night!? Somehow the kid had managed to talk Matt into teaching him how to fight, so albeit reluctantly he had agreed. He didn't like it, but could see in the kid's eyes the same burning desire to protect that he had in himself. The kid had his first taste of vigilantism, and just shy of death, there wasn't a chance in hell that he was ever stopping. In the end Matt had agreed since he'd rather a trained child run around then a dead child. And so he met Peter the next day at Fogwell's. The kid was a mess, his form all wrong and his body too scrawny. Despite that, the kid just kept going. Kept on pushing through; through the pains and sores in hs muscles, and through the burning in his lungs (because as Matt would later find out, the kid had asthma), and dammit the little brat was actually starting to grow on him. 

They worked out a system of sorts that somehow accommodated both of their schedules. During the day Matt met up at the office with Foggy and Peter went to school. Then at four if Matt wasn't out lawyering they met at Fogwell's to train. Of course some days Matt has things he needs to do and they have to cancel, but otherwise that's what they stick to. 

It's a few sessions in that Matt first introduces the idea of adding flips into the training, and although he's a bit rough at first, Peter takes to them like a fish to water. He's still learning, but there's a certain grace when Peter does manage to execute a flip. Maybe it's the way he sort of hovers, hangs, in the air at the apex of the curve before gravity takes hold, or the way his body twists like it was meant to fly. The kid was meant to fly, and maybe his lungs protest the exercise, but you couldn't pay him to change his mind. Humans weren't made to fly or else they'd have wings, but Peter was an exception. From the way he lept into the air like the law of gravity couldn't touch him to the way he seemingly hovered in mid-air for that split second. He was like a fairy with each twist and turn, and Matt could feel himself grinning whenever Peter managed to stick a landing. 

* * *

These past few weeks have been like a dream for him, and Peter still can't fully comprehend the idea that Daredevil is training him. They're practically friends! Ok, so he's never actually seen the guy in anything other then the black mask and clothes he wears when he's out beating up baddies, nor does he know his real name, but those are technicalities. Currently Peter's in the kitchen trying to follow a recipe online on how to bake cookies, 'Wait did it say to add the butter to the dry or wet ingredients?' It's Saturday and Daredevil had texted him if he was up for training even though they didn't typically meet up outside of the weekday. Of course, Peter had ecstatically agreed, and on a whim decided to bake Daredevil cookies to thank him for the training sessions. He piles them onto a paper plate and wraps them with foil to stay warm. 

As he enters the gym he waves at his sorta mentor already warming up, "Hey Double-D!"

Daredevil scowls (how he does that with a mask on Peter will never figure out), "Don't call me that."

"Well what else am I supposed to call you? It's kinda weird to keep throwing out daredevil so casually." He shrugs, and puts his backpack down. Peter's reaching into his backpack and grabbing the plate of cookies when Daredevil responds hesitantly, "Call me Matt."

Peter immediately perks up, "S-Seriously?!"

At Dared-Matt's nod, he grins brightly and thrusts out the plate towards the vigilante, "Here! These are for you."

"You baked these?"

"Yeah! I'm not sure how good they are though...but I'm pretty sure they're not too overdone." 

As Matt takes a bite of his first attempt at baking, Peter slides into some stretches, "Matt huh? I have a neighbor named Matt. He lives like, a floor or two up from me."

"Oh really?" Matt sets the plate down and brushes his hands.

"Yeah, I think he's a lawyer or something? Aunt May was saying something about how cool it was that he was blind and still achieved so much." Peter does a quick flip, "She like, uses him as an example to not let my asthma define me or something."

"You think he's cool?" Matt sends a sly grin towards him.

"Shut up." Peter huffs, "Guy's a blind lawyer, even you gotta admit that's pretty cool." 

Matt just hums as a reply. 

They get to work shortly after, and despite the new bruises Peter's never been more happy. 

"How long can you stay out today?" Matt asks when they break for a quick breather. 

Peter's lying prone on the floor, his lungs spasming, "I can text Aunt May that I'm gonna hang out with Ned late today, why?" 

Matt hands him a water bottle and he takes it gratefully, "Well I was thinking that tonight you and I could stay out and I could show you how to parkour."

He quickly sits up, "Seriously!?"

At Matt's smile he jumps up, "That'd be awesome! When do we start?" 

"Well we can't exactly jump around until after dark, so we got some time to kill. We could probably find things to act as obstacles and I could show you some things in here before you actually do it on real buildings." 

He slams into the ground more times then he can count. Bashes his shins into the walls, and skids across the floor from not properly catching himself into a roll. Despite all that, he keeps going, keeps pushing through. 

Peter doesn't end up going out that night with his bat due to how sore his muscles are, but he's never been happier. The thrill is almost addictive; the way his hair blows around in the wind and the feeling when he manages to succeed. Of course his lungs heavily protest, and it feels like he's choking on air, but he loves the feeling of flying, loves the feeling of flips and twists. As he lays in bed for once instead of running the streets, he thinks back to his neighbor Matt. If he could become a lawyer, Peter could definitely learn to parkour and push pass his shitty lungs. 

Of course, adding parkour to his training regiment isn't without consequences. His legs, knees, palms, and elbows are always in some constant state of scrapped up, and this doesn't go unnoticed. Aunt May asks him if he's being bullied, and Peter chokes down lies about how he tripped into his door again. Ned asks if Flash is bothering him too much, and despite his growing reflexes Peter takes care to not catch himself when he trips as much as possible so his best friend thinks he's just incredibly clumsy. It even draws the attention of a classmate, MJ, who asks if he's doing anything illegal. 'Yes.' he thinks but says the opposite. He knows that what he's doing is illegal. He knows that it makes the people in his life worry, but he won't stop. He can't stop. Not when he's put in so much time and effort to learn to fight. Not when he knows that he can help people. That he can save people. He'll fight through the pains in his muscles from Matt's training. He'll fight through the burning in his throat every time he's forced to lie. He'll fight through the bruises he gets from picking fights with guys three times his age out in alleyways. 

Eventually he does steadily improve. He flips through the air like he was meant for it, and in many ways he is, and successfully rolls to break his fall. His punches actually start to do some damage and he can fight muggers and thieves without resorting to "hit it in the head with a metal baseball bat until it stops moving" like they're some B-rated horror movie creature. His legs and arms and overall body seem like one constant bruise but they're from having actual sparring matches with Matt instead of it being a one-sided beat-down. All in all, he now has some actual skill and technique under his belt to take down some of the city's criminal activity, which he gladly uses. 

* * *

It's daytime on a weekend, and while Peter would typically be off training or practicing with Matt, the vigilante's decided to give him today off. Peter's heading down his apartment to buy himself some ice cream, because he's definitely earned it, when he runs into Matt. Well...not Daredevil Matt, neighbor Matt. Blind lawyer Matt. 

"Good morning Mr. Murdock!" Peter greets cheerfully. Mr. Murdock turns and gives him a slightly lopsided grin, "Good morning Peter."

He knew Mr. Murdock in passing, and they had exchanged names after running into each other leaving the building at the same time. Sometimes when Peter decided to leave earlier to meet up with Matt at Fogwell's he'd bump into Mr. Murdock also exiting the building. They often traded greetings while he held the door open for Mr. Murdock. 

"Got any interesting plans Mr. Murdock?" Peter says, more for making small talk then anything else, "The friend I typically hang out with is busy today so I don't really have anything to do."

Mr. Murdock hums, "What do you and your friend typically do? You seem to head out at around the same every weekend."

Peter shrugs, before realizing that he just shrugged to a blind man, "Uhhh..." He racks his brain for a believable excuse, "We meet at his place."

"You seem to stick to a schedule whenever you and him meet up."

Shit, what was Peter supposed to do now. "He helps me study...he tutors me in Spanish." 

"Spanish?"

"Yeah...I'm really bad at Spanish. It's just so confusing with it's conjugations and then there are the irregulars and seriously, why do they even exist!?" It wasn't the best excuse, but Mr. Murdock didn't seem to push anymore, which was a relief. 

The lawyer continued to merrily tap along, grinning like there was some inside joke Peter wasn't in on.

"I'm actually on my way to meet up with my business partner. We're purchasing a building and starting our own pro-bono lawyer firm."

"Woah that's so cool, you're not joining an already existing firm?"

Mr. Murdock shakes his head, "Nah, Foggy and I wanna help the people, and we can't do that by joining large firms. A small business by the people and for the people and all that jazz." 

Ok, yeah, Peter could get behind that. 

"Well congrats on starting your business Mr. Murdock." 

"Thanks Peter." Mr. Murdock reaches down and ruffles his hair before turning right and out of view. Peter reaches up to flatten his hair down, 'Wait...how did he do that?! How'd he know where my head was?'


End file.
